Ave Maria Press



Name__________________________________ Sacred Scripture

Directed Reading Guide

Date____________________________________ Part 1D Wisdom Books

Directions: Read through the chapter and fill in the missing information. All the questions run sequential to the chapter. If a true/false statement is false, correct it.

Page 132 Reverence and Respect for the Lord

1. What are the four main themes that the Wisdom literature focuses on?

2. True of False? Collections of Wisdom literature were likely shared between the Jews and other cultures.

3. What one thing remains clear about the Hebrew tradition of wisdom as expressed in Proverbs 9:10?

Pages 133-135 Wisdom Literature: Themes and Styles

4. The purpose of __________________ literature is to gain moral __________________, involving lessons in truth, _________________, prudence, and ____________________. Many people seek ______________________, proverbs, or general ______________________ to help them determine the best way to ____________ their lives.

5. True or False? Wisdom literature is a collection of short, wise sayings that apply to anyone, anywhere, because human nature does not change much from culture to culture or over the centuries.

6. What are examples of questions that people everywhere seek to answer?

7. True or False? One popular style in the Historical books contrasts the behaviors of the wise person with those of the foolish person.

8. The Wisdom movement originated _________________ of Israel and typically revolved around a ____________ who operated within the ___________________ and was supported by its leaders, though most sages identified in the __________________________ seem to have been the “_________________________” of other nations, and they are generally not well thought of by the Old Testament _____________________.

9. True or False? It’s likely that Wisdom sayings in the Bible were collected from the upper class.

Pages 135-144 Wisdom Books: A Unique Form of Spirituality

10. True or False? Besides in the Book of Esther, the central themes and characters of the Old Testament hardly appear in biblical Wisdom literature.

11. Hebrew _____________________________ focuses more on God as Creator and on _________________ itself. It describes God by what he has made; it is descriptive, __________________, and objective. This is a different form of _______________________ than that found in the ______________________, which tends to be more _________________ and charismatic.

12. True or False? Modern science carried out in a truly scientific manner without contradicting moral law is very compatible to the inspired Hebrew Wisdom literature in that both have elements of rationality and observation and both ultimately derive from the same God.

13. Is all Hebrew Wisdom literature from the post-exilic era of biblical history?

14. True or False? It is traditional to assign much of Wisdom literature to King Solomon, but this is mainly because Solomon was known as a wise king, and he certainly did not write all of the Wisdom literature.

15. Summarize four ideas as to why Wisdom literature became popular in the post-exilic Diaspora.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

16. The standard belief at the time in which the Book of ___________ was written is that a ____________________ would be rewarded with good __________________, material wealth, and good _________________. It rejects the simplistic belief that good is ____________________ and evil is ____________________, and while it does not so much solve the problem, it _____________________ it, lives with it, and ______________________ it.

17. Explain what the Book of Job reveals about the perplexing question of why God permits physical and moral evil.

18. The ________________ present an inward journey of ________________ and prayer that prepares Christians for the coming of ________________ and his proclamation of __________________________. The overall literary style of the Psalms is ___________________.

19. What are three types of parallelism found the in Book of Psalms?

20. True or False? It is important in reading biblical poetry to pay attention to the relationship between the lines in different verses because they assist readers in determining the meaning of the verse and the entire Psalm.

21. True or False? The Psalms evolved over a long period of time.

22. True or False? The evidence in Psalms suggest that there were originally five “books” of the Psalms. Four instance, each part ends with “Alleluia. Alleluia.”

23. Traditionally it was thought that _________________ was the author of the Psalms, through Psalm 72, because the _________________________ mention that he played a ____________________________. In fact, almost two-thirds of the Book of Psalms comes from the period of the ___________________________.

24. Briefly describe the four main categories of Psalms.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

25. Some psalms were used for _________________ in the Temple while other Psalms were used for __________________ _________________ outside of the Temple. It is presumed that ________________ sang some of them because all but thirty-four of the Psalms have ________________ or musical _____________________.

26. True or False? The historical Psalms might have been valuable for Hebrew children growing up in the Diaspora where songs would have been an effective way to maintain identity and to provide a connection with their religious and spiritual traditions.

27. Jesus himself turned to the _________________ of one of the lament Psalms at the moment of his ____________ when he referred to __________________. This Psalm ends in _____________________, just as Jesus’ pain was ultimately vindicated in his _____________________ — the triumph over the _____________ and over Death.

28. What are three types of wisdom taught by the proverbs?

29. _____________________ is a loose collection of ________________, laments, poems, and __________________ questions. It is concerned with the value of ________________________. A major theme of the book is the _______________ of all things. People cannot find happiness and answers to the __________________ of life without God.

30. The __________________________ was written after the Babylonian exile and is a collection of _____________ _______________. From a Jewish point of view, the love poems were said to refer to the love between __________________________. Catholics have interpreted them as an _________________ describing Christ’s love for the __________________.

31. Briefly explain the three main sections of the Wisdom of Solomon.

32. True or False? The Book of Sirach was used extensively by the early Church in the formation of priests and in the instruction the faithful.

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